I write, I travel, I eat...I AM ANTHONY BOURDAIN!

So, rewind to July 5th, 2010. That is our anniversary. We are in Kauai, about to do some snorkeling. But first, it is a gift exchange. I gave Amanda a gift card to a local spa. She was pleased. Amanda gave me Anthony Bourdain's newest book, "Medium Raw" AND tickets to see him live September 18th in San Diego. Saturday was the 18th, so we saw Anthony Bourdain!!!

Amanda's edit: I have to thank Mama Pea for this one. I saw her blog about seeing him live and bought the tickets immediately after reading her post.

I love Bourdain. I love No Reservations, and I love his thoughts on how to travel and eat local. I try so hard when traveling to eat like the locals, but he makes it look way easy than it is. I find him hilarious on top of it. I love him on Top Chef. I love Kitchen Confidential. I love that if he read our blog he would think we were morons. I love his hate for vegans, equating them to terrorists organizations (I, of course, don't believe this true... just funny). I love his hate for Rachel Ray, Paula Dean, and Sandra Lee. I want to be Bourdain, minus the drug use. Ok, I have a man crush. Whatever.

So we were in the back, and the pictures didn't come out great, but that's ok.

Highlights:

1. The woman in front of us. So, we are sitting down and she sits down in front of us. Then she basically looks at us and others around us and sounds way too loud "I am surprised so many young people are here. I wouldn't think they could relate!" Amanda and I got the biggest laugh of the evening before the show started. Has this woman seen the show? He talked about The Ramones and the New York Dolls, which the woman was confused about. He talked about many sex acts that you don't bring up in polite company. He talked about eating the "poopchute" of a wild boar. The woman feel asleep about 20 minutes in. I'm not sure if she knew what she was getting into. I think she wanted Paula Dean's deep fried mac and cheese. She sucked, we laughed.

2. He talked about a few chapters of the book. McDonald's being evil and Ronald killing children. How fast food establishments might serve meat treated with ammonia. Sandra Lee molesting him. Funny, even if I knew the story.

3. His thoughts on all sorts of food personalities and shows. He likes Giada, even if she has a giant head. He likes Adam Richman, even if he is probably one more buffalo wing away from a massive coronary. He like Andrew Zimmern, who has had similar substance abuse issues as Tony. He likes Alton Brown, despite his hacky Iron Chef America show. He doesn't like Bobby Flay so much.

4. He took audience questions. I asked him a questions. I asked "So, I love Top Chef, but it appears to me that Padma hates the contestants, hates everything she eats, hates Tom and certainly hates you. Does she?" He replied that he doesn't really know her well enough, but that Gail is lovely. Read: "I can't say, because I like that gig and they pay me well. But yeah, she is a Bitch. Gail, however, is super attractive and if I wasn't married we would have a nice relationship."

5. Bad audience questions. I hope mine wasn't stupid. But compared to the 3 people asking him for jobs, the guy that asked why there was a viewer discretion advised warning before each episode, and the woman asking him if he ever smokes pot, I have a feeling I didn't suck so hard.

6. I love his thoughts on travel. So he shared how to get into other cultures and eat what they eat and live how they live. Makes me instantly want to travel more. So we will.

This is the back of my head, Tony listening intently.

After, we went to a local brewery which we have raved about in the past, Stone, and enjoyed a beer.

I look way too happy. I love you Anthony Bourdain. Thanks for a great evening. If I was a shameless self promoter I would have mentioned by blog to you. I didn't. I don't suck.

14th Anniversary Stone Brewing Company Festival

This is a few weeks in the making and Amanda wanted me to do it. I just started work again, and the beginning of the school year is hectic and weird. But I have a little time now and I don't want to grade essays yet (but if you want to grade them for me, I can pay you in cookies!)

So a few weeks ago Amanda and I went to San Diego with a few friends to attend the 14th Anniversary Stone Brewing Company Festival. This is one of my favorite breweries and is about 5 miles from where I grew up. Every year they hold a little B-Day party where they get breweries from all over the world and sample beers. You basically get 3 hours and 10 pours(I think they are about 3 oz.). The festival was on the campus of Cal State San Marcos, but the brewery is located about 5 miles east of the school in Escondido. So our day of drinking in the sun began at the brewery. We tried to do a tour of the brewery but it was packed, so we just ate at the brewery...and drank. This place has amazing food! And has an really nice patio garden you can sit in.

Amanda started with some Cider. She orders this fairly often. It is pretty good and not too sweet.

We shared some hummus.

On to lunch!

Beer mac n cheese.

BBQ Boar Ribs!

Duck tacos

Ceviche!

We drank a lot too. I had the Stone IPA, which is fantastic. I have no idea what others had. But they were all good.

On to the fest!

Cheers! Taster glasses.

The first beer I went with was the 14th Anniversary Stone Imperial IPA. Damn was it good!

I love IPA's. I love hoppy beer. I don't know too many people that enjoy them as much as I do. This was pretty fantastic.

I really wanted to pull a scene from Sideways and drink from the bucket...but I didn't. This is me and my good friend Brett and his friend Jen. That is a lot of warm, nasty beer.

One of the best parts was the free food. They had this cheese called Mike's Beer Cheese that they gave samples of. We dominated it. Amazing stuff.

And here is Amanda and I with "Mike." I don't know if this is legitmately the guy who makes it, or just a random gentleman, but he was eager to hug.

What you can't see is that I had just has my bandage taken off my arm and my elbow was super sore. I couldn't bend it. The look on my face is pain. I didn't want to look bad in front of "Mike," so I sucked it up.

The rest of the day was basically going tent to tent to get sample of beer. Some were amazing, so were weird. They had this collaboration beer between Victory, Stone, and Dogfish Head. It was horrible. Like drinking sweaty gym socks. You can't win them all. Here are just more pictures. Some favorite breweries and beers we tasted.

Deadliest Catch fans? This is Captain Sig's brew!

I look nuts because I couldn't bend my right arm.

Amanda is cute.

Now to relate a conversation that happen as we were leaving. None of us were drunk. We actually didn't even drink all 10 pours we were allowed. Amanda and Jen sold a few for $5. But some folks drank too much. As we were leaving, a lovely, drunk young lady had the following conversation with me:

Drunky: Hey, do you have a girlfriend?

Me: Umm, I am married.

Drunky: *shoves me away, moves on to someone else*

It is good to know drunk girls will still hit on me.

So, any beer suggestions? I love trying new, interesting beers. If you have never had Stone, try the Stone Pale Ale or Stone IPA. Or Dogfish Head 60 min or 90 min IPA. Stone also makes Arrogant Bastard Ale which is great. What are you drinking?

Note from Amanda: I am way too excited for pumpkin beer!

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Eating in San Diego

California has a few breweries but none near where Andy and I live. Luckily we spent a week in Andy's old stomping ground...San Diego!

Andy, his mom Josie and I went to Stone Brewing Co. for dinner one night after Andy spent the day at a teacher's conference. Our friend Coral turned us on to the brewery and their awesome food.



I ordered pear cider since I wasn't in a beer mood but wanted something. It was delicious!



Andy ordered duck tacos with black beans and rice. He was thrilled.



I ordered Macaroni and beer cheese with sausage. It was rich, cheesy and amazing. I never have macaroni and cheese like this anymore and I really miss it.

Josie order the currant cider which was even better than my pear! Next time I'm getting that. Andy ordered the Stone IPA which he loves but I find a little hoppy. (I prefer pale ales or wheat beers.)



Later in the week, I met with Coral and her adorable daughter Hannah. We went to Oggi's pizza which was new to me. I ordered the Santa Fe personal pizza. It was delicious. The crust was perfection. I ordered a salad on the side and ended up only eating half the pizza.

Next up, we went out to Sally's Seafood on the Water



Crab cakes were ordered.



And sushi! We all really enjoyed this place. I'm not huge into sushi but I tried a spicy tuna roll and enjoyed it.

Completely unrelated but worth mentioning, I have been considering signing up for my first half marathon on October 17th. I've completed three relatively slow 5k's but I alternated walking and running with all of them. Lately I haven't been running much at all. Knee and heel pain keeps me away.

Anyhow, I want to work with a podriatrist on my plantar fasciitis and see my current doctor about the knee issues and get their okay before signing up for the half. I still plan on walk/running because it works for me and I'm not concerned about my time. I really just want to complete a half marathon. It's a big dream of mine and signing up for a big race will keep me motivated to continue running. Still, with the pain and irritation I've been experiencing, I wonder if it's possible. I'd have 12 weeks to train using the Hal Higdon novice plan.

Anyway, I just wanted to know your thoughts. I will also see what the doctors think and let you know.